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Many things come to mind when we are asked to think of higher education. Some immediately envision lecture halls, fast food, fraternities, pep rallies, parties, caps, and gowns. However, these days social media is as much a part of college life as homework. Over the last two decades, the percentage of college-aged individuals posting, following, and sharing online has constantly risen. In 2005, 7% of 18 to 29 year olds were using social media; five years later, that number grew exponentially to 76%; by 2019, 90% of people in this age group were using social media platforms to connect (Pew Research Center 2019a). Many modern-day college students belong to the group known as digital natives, due to growing up in a world with the existence of digital technology (Prensky 2001, p. 1). Undergraduates and graduate students’ lifelong relationship with electronic devices and digital media creates famriliarity with technology and in turn, enables many to comfortably use social media as a vehicle for culture, news, entertainment, and relationships.

Social media is a form of computer-mediated communication. When joining a social network, individuals create profiles that enable them to utilize the platform by viewing, creating, and sharing content. These Web 2.0 applications rely on user-generated content and allow people to build personalized networks in which they can exchange text, images, and videos.

Although social media is popular with college-aged adults, not all are racing to create profiles on the same platforms. Social networks vary in popularity depending on the age of the user. However, Facebook is favored by a wide range of age groups. Just over three quarters of 18 to 24 year olds have Facebook accounts (Pew Research Center 2019b). Co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin in 2004, Facebook began as a network designed exclusively for college students before allowing others to join in 2006 (Facebook 2020). Capitalizing on its success and the popularity of the virtual wall, which allows users to create a digital collage of their lives, Facebook has used additional social media tools as bricks to build its place in the world of computer-mediated communication. The company added Messenger in 2011, allowing users to send direct messages (DMs) to others on the network for private exchanges (Facebook 2020). A year after introducing this intimate communication feature, the company hit a milestone in popularity. “Facebook became the largest social network in the world, with more than one billion users as of 2012, and about half that number were using Facebook every day” (Hall 2019). Also, in that same year, Instagram was acquired by Facebook; two years later in 2014, WhatsApp, a text, phone, and video application, connecting people globally through WiFi, was purchased by the Zuckerberg led company (Facebook 2020). Facebook offers a myriad of ways for users to connect with others online. The platform offers asynchronous options that allow users to post and reply at their convenience as well as synchronous features that enable users to broadcast their lives in real time or call someone in their network without even knowing their mobile number.

Some groups of people are more likely to use Facebook than others. When it comes to this social site, those who have walked across the stage for a collegiate graduation are more likely to belong to the network. Specifically, of those who have earned at least one college degree, 74% use Facebook compared to 61% of adults who have obtained a high school diploma or less (Pew Research Center 2019c). When one graduates with a degree, they leave campus with an expanded network that may be sprawled out over a state or country, so social media provides a convenient way to stay connected. Furthermore, there is also a distinction between gender with Facebook users. In the US, three quarters of women use Facebook compared to 63% of men (Pew Research Center 2019c). By analyzing the predictors of social media usage, colleges and universities can identify methods to help their students navigate platforms in ways that will complement academic and professional goals.

By examining the Facebook activity of 13 to 17 year olds, there can be some insight gained on the social networking habits of incoming undergraduates. According to one study, “lower-income teens are more likely than higher-income teens to use Facebook” (Pew Research Center 2018a). A closer look into the data reveals the financial divide. Although many US teenagers often use similar social sites despite a breakdown of further demographics, 70% of teens raised on an annual household income under $30,000 have Facebook accounts compared to 36% of their counterparts living in a home with an annual income over $75,000 (Pew Research Center 2018a). Utilizing data on socioeconomics and social media usage can introduce ways for institutions to connect with audiences, such as first-generation college students, and share knowledge on academic programs and resources available.

Instagram is another popular platform with college-aged adults. Commonly referred to as “IG,” or “The Gram,” this social site is also synonymous with (a) short-lived stories that disappear from the site 24 hours after they are posted and (b) filtered photographs, which allow users to alter their images with graphics and airbrushing. Just under six years after hitting the social media scene, Instagram reached “half a billion monthly active users, 300 million of whom [used] the photo-sharing service daily” (Laurent 2016). Instagram is wildly popular with many athletes, actors, and musicians, which college students have an interest in and frequently follow on social sites. It is not uncommon for celebs to share breaking personal news and exclusive photos on these platforms – capturing the attention of fans. As of 2019, nine years after its release, three quarters of 18 to 24 year olds had an account on Instagram (Pew Research Center 2019b). IG is beginning to eclipse Facebook as a favorite among college students.

Snapchat is a media sharing site that has garnered the attention of college-aged adults as well. Among those aged 18 to 24, 73% have a profile on the platform (Pew Research Center 2019b). Unlike social networks with some features that vanish a day after posting, content shared on Snapchat is designed to disappear immediately after viewing. One study found the fleeting quality of messages on the platform “reduces self-consciousness in communication” for many university students using the app, resulting in unique, humorous, and vulnerable exchanges (Xu et al. 2016, p. 1672). In a virtual world where many posts can live forever through screenshots and sharing, Snapchat offers a veil of privacy due to its short-lived nature. This may be comforting to some college students who worry about their light-hearted, dorm room antics coming back to haunt their professional life down the road.

The method of concise writing, taught during the undergraduate years, may unintentionally help prepare students for Twitter, a microblogging platform. In the US, the typical Twitter user is more likely to belong to a younger age group, hold a degree, and earn higher wages compared to the average adult in the nation. “Overall, 42% of US adult Twitter users have at least a college degree, compared with 31% of all Americans. [Forty-one percent] of adult Twitter users earn at least $75,000 a year, compared with 32% of all American adults” (Pew Research Center 2019d). Twitter originally capped posts at 140 characters before increasing the count to 280 in 2017, about 10 years after its inception (Tsukayama 2017). Twitter users often take to the internet with short messages that voice their views on the hot topic of the day or week, often relating to news, culture, and politics.

YouTube plugged into the digital scene at a time when just 7% of 18 to 29 year olds were using social media; its very first video, “Me at the Zoo,” was uploaded in April of 2005 (Grandoni 2013; Pew Research Center 2019a). With a running time of 18 seconds, the video has racked up millions of views. The college-aged population is using YouTube at higher rates than those of the average adult. Specifically, 90% of 18 to 24 year olds report using YouTube compared to 73% of all adults in 2019 (Pew Research Center 2019e). YouTube allows people to watch public or unlisted videos without creating a profile on the network. In order to post videos, users generating content must create a profile and choose the name of a personalized channel to which content will be added. Those who decide to subscribe to YouTube channels can track content updates. At the start of 2019, YouTube amassed close to 44,000 channels and upwards of 250,000 subscribers (Pew Research Center 2019e). It was forecast that YouTube will have 1.86 billion users by 2021, up from 1.35 billion in 2016 (Statista 2018). There is an emerging trend of using YouTube in higher education. A growing number of online and hybrid college courses use YouTube in various ways. Some educators may upload recorded lectures or link to open-access videos. In addition, students use the site as a place to upload class presentations and share their work remotely.

Many college students identify as gamers and YouTube often draws them to its website. Nearly 18% of videos posted in the English language during the first week of January in 2019 were about gaming; these videos pulled in 34,347 median views compared to 11,174 for recorded content on other subject matters (Pew Research Center 2019e). These videos generally offer tips and tricks that gamers can use to maximize their playing experience. According to one poll, almost three quarters of men aged 18 to 29 play video games along with about half of women in the same age group (Pew Research Center 2018b). Furthermore, these videos tend to be much longer than those in other categories. Specifically, gaming videos from the first week of 2019 alone had a median length of 13 minutes compared to 5.2 minutes for others (Pew Research Center 2019a). Just as students flock to lecture halls to learn about human biology and women’s literature, many absorb information from user-generated content on YouTube.

One of the most recent social media apps to gain the attention of US college students is TikTok. This platform, introduced by the Chinese video-sharing company ByteDance, experienced rocketing popularity in late 2019 with more than 1.5 billion downloads (Chapple 2019). Although the platform is a favorite choice for some pre-teens, many undergrads use the social site to share short videos. Some college students and recent grads use TikTok to earn money for promoting products and services (Kerr 2019). With an ability to monetize driving audiences to social media pages for branding messages, TikTok joins the likes of Instagram, YouTube, and more.

College students spend a great deal of time online and so do others. Surfing the web has become one of America’s popular pastimes with 81% reporting daily use of the internet; more than a quarter of American adults described themselves as continuously online throughout the day, while 45% report pulling up the internet multiple times on a day-to-day basis (Pew Research Center 2019f). With a few clicks of a mouse or taps on a screen, people can pay bills or shop for necessities, all while saving a stamp and time waiting in line at the checkout. The convenience of the internet draws many to its webpages. Further examination of how frequently the 18 to 29 year old population is online reveals that just under half are constantly on the internet while 46% report accessing the web various times throughout the day (Pew Research Center 2019f). This data reflects the essential role that internet plays in the lives of young adults. However, one out of ten adults in America reports never going online; it should be noted that zero percent of this group is made up of 18 to 29 year olds; of those who live their lives completely offline, 27% are aged 65 or older and 29% have not completed high school (Pew Research Center 2019g). Primarily, it is the digital natives and educated populations that demonstrate a commitment to living a life with technology.

Many adults with social media accounts check in with their online networks as part of their everyday routine. The platform with the largest percentage of daily users is Facebook; as of 2019, 74% of adults connect with their network on Facebook seven days a week compared to 63% and 61% of those with profiles on Instagram and Snapchat, respectively. YouTube attracts just over half of its social networking population each day while Twitter draws in 44% of its microblogging audience daily (Pew Research Center 2019a). Many social media apps have features that ensure users are alerted when someone on their network interacts with their post or sends them a DM. Parsing out the minutes of the day devoted to social networking, we see that the average internet user spends 2 hours, 22 minutes connected to platforms, which reflects an increase from 2 hours, 20 minutes in 2017 (Pew Research Center 2019a). An examination of social media usage around the globe reveals the Philippines has consistently ranked number one for the highest average of time spent on social media over the last few years; in 2019, Filipinos clocked an average of 3 hours, 53 minutes each day; by comparison, Americans spent an average of 2 hours, and 3 minutes social networking that same year (Statista 2020). Accounted for in part of this number are young adults with social media profiles. As college students work to fit classes, homework, and other activities into their daily schedule, a number are carving out time to connect with their virtual networks.

Friends and family are not the only ones seeking to connect on social media; many colleges and universities have created profiles on a myriad of platforms to reach both current and potential future students. Specifically, when it comes to prospective students, social media is a viable recruiting tool. According to one study, by 2012, 92% of the top 100 institutions in the US were using “social media in conjunction with their official websites” (Greenwood 2012). In addition, the convenience and affordability of using social media as a marketing tool is an added advantage to institutions working hard to balance budgets.

Social media not only serves as a virtual magnet to draw students onto campus, in many ways it helps to promote student engagement. Several institutions, such as University of Delaware, University of Central Florida, and Colorado State University, encourage campus influencers to capture experiences ranging from move-in day to game day to off-campus road trips (Kay 2019; McKenzie 2019). These social media posts offer a front row seat into the lives of students at their respective institutions; they serve as a virtual tour without the scripted appeals from campus faculty, staff, and administrators. Some institutions, such as George Mason University and Temple University extend control of the campus social media platforms to students for a day (Stroller 2016; McKenzie 2019). The choice to entrust this responsibility to students demonstrates the bond between the institution and its students. Furthermore, it can serve as an incentive for students to envelop themselves with school spirit in hopes of also becoming a social media ambassador.

Colleges and universities are helping students break into the lucrative business of social media. Some are offering courses centered on becoming an influencer to help students sharpen not only the focus on their hand-held cameras, but also their strategies. University of Southern California offers a course on “influencer relations,” in conjunction with the institution’s school of communications and an on-campus club (Rosenblatt 2020). For those college students interested in earning more than just a few credits on subjects related to social networking, some places of study are offering degree programs in this burgeoning field. Several institutions are combining a bachelor’s degree in marketing with a concentration in social media. At the graduate level, some universities are offering master’s degrees in social media (Somers 2016). Many educators and administrators recognize the role that social networking plays in the lives of most. Designing collegiate courses and programs that provide students with a portal into the digital world is a growing trend.

Social media plays a pervasive role in the lives of those pursuing higher education. It serves as a constant virtual companion for many with wide-ranging implications that can make the difference between succeeding and being set back as an undergrad or graduate student.